Clay Club aims to connect potters and ceramic artists of our community. We exchange ideas, share information and form friendships

Thursday, August 13, 2015

August Clay Club recap: critiques at Linda McFarling's studio

I know I say this a lot, but seriously: what an awesome Clay Club last night!

Thanks to Linda McFarling for hosting and organizing the critiques. Thanks to Melisa Cadell, Susan Feagin and Shane Mickey for leading the critiques. And thanks to the five brave Clay Clubbers who put their work out there for all of us to discuss. The variety of work was really striking. Also interesting was the variety of input people were looking for. Thanks everyone!

Jim Kransberger wanted input on his piece below, titled "She's been around." This piece has been fired once and then decorated with acrylic paints and real stamps with varnish over them.

Linda McFarling likes the form on the turntable in the first picture when it has flowers in it - not so much when it's empty. She's been working on how to alter it so that it seems finished whether it's empty or not. One of the first things that happened was that Melisa picked it up and turned it so that it was vertical - pretty sure I heard a collective "Oh" or something when she did that. Also discussed were the number and placement of the holes, and finishing the holes so that they're more natural-looking, like maybe molding the holes around around a finger.

Claudia Dunaway wanted input on how to make her body of work seem more cohesive. She spends a lot of time making the pieces she loves, but they're not necessarily the ones that sell. One suggestion was to make the pots she loves making bigger. Paraphrasing Claudia on that suggestion: If I make bigger pots, the pots that are now the Cadillacs become the Chevrolet.

Annie Thayer brought the smallest piece. She loves making these birds. She wanted input on what to do with them. Some of the suggestions included putting the birds on a pedestal (so they look less like a trinket), making them with a mold to speed up the process, and using terra sig. Another suggestion was to look at glass artist Shane Fero's birds. (You can see some of Shane's birds here: http://www.morganglassgallery.com/artists/fero.htm.)

Bridget Fox brought a ceramadelics light sculpture. We had to step into a darkened room to view it and it was totally worth it. The porcelain piece is lit from the inside with LED lights that continually change color. I tried to take a video of it but it does not do this piece justice. Bridget was looking for input from the ceramic community on this line of work. She said her most recent ceramadelic piece took a week to make. How can she sell these? Who is in the market for something like this? A couple suggestions included working with interior designers and looking at how glass artists market high end sculptures.

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About Clay Club

Clay Club meets at artist studios and other locations throughout Western North Carolina, usually on the second Wednesday of the month. All potters and ceramic artists are welcome! Look for details about the meetings here on the blog or contact Amy Waller at amy@amywallerpottery.com for more info.